From Third year is the charm and The Vipers

Bill Graham rented the Fillmore Auditorium for the night of December 10 for his second benefit for the SF Mime Troop. Our manager Richard Astle heard about the event, called Graham, and got us a same day audition at the Matrix. On the stage at the Fillmore we played first, as people filed in. I had a hard time keeping my pedal clamped onto the bass drum, and we didn’t play very well, but the rest of the evening felt magical, and it was an honor to be a small part of it. It became a historic night because it was the first event Graham ever held at the Fillmore, and it was the first time the Warlocks revealed their new name, the Grateful Dead.

 When we finished we took my drums out to the car, parked on the street at night in the poor black neighborhood of San Francisco. It took a second trip back to get the ride cymbal and high hat. When we got back to car it was empty. We had left it unlocked (!) and all my drums were gone. I had no drum set for the next year. That was the origin of later calling 1966 my lost year.

Based on #3.1 of SA3. Bands and Farm

My posting on Dead.Net

Ralph Gleason’s column about 12-10-65

Mention of the Vipers